The Return of the Dragon is the second scenario of the Dracula campaign in Age of Empires II HD: The Forgotten, where the player is playing as Magyars. In this scenario, Vlad Dracula obtains support by Bogdan II, Voivode of Moldavia, for his claim over Wallachia. The player will need to send Dracula, Istvan, Jakub, and Danislav to the Bran Castle (a wonder) and take over the Wallachian town there. Then the player would need to prepare troops and probably conquer some local Wallachian and Transylvanian villages, before destroying the two castles of Vladislav II and kill Vladislav himself. At the same time, the player may be occasionally harassed by the Ottoman Empire and Hungary, which are frequently fighting each other. The Ottoman Empire is now supporting Vladislav II, while Hungary would offer alliance with Dracula (the player) if the player advances to the Imperial Age and pay them 1000 Food.

In the beginning, the player must ensure all the four heroes survive until they reach the Bran Castle. After that, the player must ensure the Bran Castle remains standing. The Bran Castle would produce a Paladin for the player every 300 seconds.

The player cannot build any building that produces military units, therefore the player will have to conquer local villages to acquire such buildings, which are indestructible. These villages can be conquered by any player at any time. To conquer a local village, simply place a unit on the torch of the village, and all the buildings, except houses, would belong to the player. If not guarded properly, any other player, whether friendly or hostile, may simply grab the village by placing their own unit on the torch.

In the beginning, the four heroes - Dracula, Istvan, Jakub, and Danislav would meet Voivod Bogdan II of Moldavia at his castle. Dracula would rally for Bogdan's support for him to get the Voivodship of Wallachia. Once succeeded, the four heroes are to travel northwest to the Bran Castle, in the north. All four of them must survive to get there. Along the way, they would encounter Vladislav II's troops (belong to the "immobile" player). There is a small military camp of Vladislav, at the left hand side of the path, where there are two towers with exceptionally strong attack therefore should be avoided by going through the Moldavian city.

As the player reaches a pass being guarded by Vladislav's guards, the player would have the option to turn back and kill the general of Vladislav at the military camp mentioned above. He is marching with a few soldiers in and out of the camp. It would likely be a better option to kill this general, as this would cause the guards at the pass to retreat southwards.

Once the four heroes reach the Bran Castle, they would disappear and the player would take over the whole town from the Wallachians. The player must ensure the Bran Castle remains standing. It would produce a paladin every 300 seconds. The player is unable to build barracks, archery ranges, stables, siege workshops, castles, and monasteries (the first four are already available in the Wallachian town for the player) in this scenario. The only way to obtain these buildings would be conquering local Transylvanian and Wallachian villages by placing any unit over the torch of the village and take over all buildings except houses. Any other player, whether friendly or hostile, can do the same to the villages. The buildings in these villages are all undestructable. If the player is able to control the Wallachian village in the middle of the map, the trade workshop there would produce a hand cannoneer every 120 seconds.

The player's main enemy would be Vladislav II, who would be frequently fighting the player and Moldavia. While both Ottoman Empire and Hungary are hostile towards the player, they are busy fighting each other and would only occasionally harrass the player. However, if the player advanced to the Imperial Age, Hungary would offer an alliance with the player by asking for 1000 Food. The only way for the player to advance to the Imperial Age would be conquering any of the local villages that has the required building(s) for the upgrade. The Transylvanian village in the middle of the map has a castle for this.

The player is to win the scenario by defeating Vladislav's forces and kill him. While the player's allies may help the player defeat Vladislav's forces, Vladislav himself is hiding behind walls at the western corner, protected by a bombard tower. The player can simply send a ranged unit to kill him.

Even though the Wallachian villages appear to be in the south of the Danube, in reality Wallachia was actually in the north of the Danube, where the river served as the boundary between Wallachia and the Ottoman Empire.